B&H did a fantastic job and really gave a lot to the series. I am sure it was a great experience for them and one I hope they hold dear for years to come. Ida and Tania were amazing and full credit to them this week. Their luck continues.

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I have now seen part 3 of episode 8 (thanks, Banzai) and have heard how the flight decisions were arrived at. The only team that got an optimal route in my opinion was Geoff/Tisha. The took CX739 to Singapore and then got MI468 arriving Cochin around 10pm. Why did none of the other teams find out about MI468, which would have gotten them to Cochin 5.5 to about 8 hours sooner than they actually did? I can't tell you the answer to that. There was no indication that the flight was full and couldn't be booked, although an airline agent would probably not mention what was not relevant.

Vince and Sam were second at HKG Interntional Airport and told the agent they wanted to go to India, although at some point they would have had to be specific about Cochin to get ticketed there. They were put on CX735 1415 1800, connecting in Mumbai with SQ424 2015 2315. This raises multiple questions beyond "Why not MI468?" First is why the Cathay Pacific agent they went to did not book them on an earlier Singapore arilines flight HKG SIN SQ863 1330 1720? Second is why they were not booked on 9W011 1705 2150 SIN BOM? It arrive 2.5 hours before the one they were booked on. Next comes the factor which broke their back, the transfer in Mumbai International airport from arrival on the Terminal 2 the Interntional Terminal to departure at Domestic Terminal 1A for am Air India flight. There was an unknown amount of time for that. Vince says 2 hours and Henry says 2.5 hours. Why did they not make that connection? Clearly one or the other team was going to lose if they were both over 3.5 hours behind the women's teams. "These terminals use the same airside facilities but are physically separated on the landside, requiring a 10-15 minute drive between them. The Airports Authority of India provides shuttle services between the domestic and international terminals for connecting passengers." I have to believe that they missed the flight due to late arrival of 9W911

Next we come to AD/Fuzzie being directed to Air India's 1445 flight direct from Hong Kong to Mumbai. I can find no such flight, but there was CX751 1425 2005. That gave them 5.5 hours to connect to AI690 0130+1 0330+1.

In copycat fashion, Bernie/Henry accepted the flight research that Vince/Sam had done and elected to book the identical route. Along the same vein, Ida/Tania booked the same as AD/Fuzzie although there was no evidence of any advice or collusion.

These decisions were the ballgame, as the late arrival of Vince/Sam and Bernie/Henry dictated which 2 teams would be fighting for 4th place to aovid elimination.

EDITOR's NOTE - we have new information which applies to this issue from the blogs of Vince and Sam. We can infer that there were not enough seats(you need 4) on the Singapore to Cochin nonstop flight that Geoff/Tisha got on. This meant that AD/Fuzzie and Vince/Sam had to make decisions that meant going through Mumbai. AD/Fuzzie got 8 seats for themselves and Ida/Tania and their production crews. Sam says that AD/Fuzzie had to do something unique to get any seats on the nonstop Hong Kong to Mumbai flight, which neither Vince/Sam nor Bernie/Henry could get on. The only alternative reasonable alternative for Vince/Sam and Bernie/Henry was to Singapore to get to Mumbai, but that went sour and they missed the late plane to Cochin from Mumbai.

Leg 8 (People's Republic Of China → India)Bolgatty Palace, Pit Stop for Leg 8 of the Race• Macau (St. Paul Ruins)• Macau (Macau Tower) • Macau (Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Pier, Macau) to Hong Kong (Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Pier, Hong Kong) by TurboJET• Hong Kong (MASkargo Airport Hangar)• Hong Kong (Hong Kong International Airport) to Cochin, Kerala, India (Cochin International Airport)• Cochin (Neelam Kulangara Devi Temple)• Kumbalam, Cochin (Elephant Wash Area in SPS Temple) • Cochin (Bolgatty Palace) In this leg's Roadblock, the chosen team member must perform a bungee jump from the top of the Macau Tower to receive their next clue. The first team to complete the task will receive a helicopter ride from Macau to Hong Kong instead of the TurboJET ferry ride. In this leg's Detour, the choice was between Fish or Fill. In Fish, the team members must carry six large swordfish to a nearby restaurant before receiving their next clue. In Fill, teams must fill an intricate pattern using colored rice before receiving their next clue.Additional tasks• At the Neelam Kulangara Devi Temple, teams had to get a blessing from the Indian priest before they received their next clue.• At the MASkargo Warehouse, teams must search and open their box before receiving their next clue.• At the Elephant Wash Area in SPS Temple, teams must wash an elephant using the traditional way of coconut husks

Cochin, IndiaToday at 9:35amAn emotional episode, on many levels. Receiving a letter from home was one. It was fantastic getting a surprise letter from home cos we've been racing for a while, and the encouragement was what I needed to push myself even further. The one line my parents wrote which meant the most to me was "Winning this Race is not important; gaining the experience therefrom is." When I read this, I was very comforted. It was very true. The race experience has been nothing short of fantastic, and it reminded me to continue savouring it. In fact, when we in a cab racing to the pitstop, it was this very phrase that made me very calm. I told Vince (which wasn't shown on TV) that if we got eliminated in Cochin, I'd be very satisfied. To be a part of the best reality TV show in the world has been a miracle in itself.

Friends and family have asked me about the missed connecting flight to Cochin, and how we did not get the same flight as AD/Fuzzie & Ida/Tania. Suffice to say, Vince & I (including Bernie & Henry) have searched the entire HK airport for the best possible & AVAILABLE flights, and together concluded that the one we had was the best one. In fact, Vince and I were at the airport so long searching for flights that two teams (AD/Fuzzie & Bernie/Henry) caught up.

So yes, together, Bernie & Henry and us willingly decided to work together, pool our knowledge on what flights were left open to us. There was no hoodwinking, no ploy to get anyone eliminated. We most definitely weren't being sneaky or mean or evil to Bernie & Henry. I mean, we (including Bernie/Henry) had NO idea that we would miss that important connection from Mumbai to Cochin. It was very simply the BEST AVAILABLE flight (HK-SIN-MUMBAI-COCHIN) at that point, and in fact, we were very glad to get those flights. I am not permitted to comment how AD/Fuzzie & Ida/Tania got that HK-MUMBAI-COCHIN flight when we ourselves couldn't. So, it was very simply a case of freakin' BAD LUCK that we were unable to catch the connecting flight. Case closed.

Hence, this ep was also very emotional for me because we had to race against Bernie & Henry to the pitstop, esp since it said specifically that the last team WILL BE eliminated. Flying together to India gave us that precious chance to bond more just the two teams alone, because we were never really bunched together for a significant amount of time (apart from sleeping outside the Hue airport, but that was with a few other teams!!).

It was very hard for me. While I was glad we weren't eliminated, I was crushed that they would be eliminated. It wasn't a joyous time for us, and we didn't celebrate our close shave. We respect this team very deeply, and like this team very much, and frankly, they were indeed one of the strongest competitors, if not *the* strongest competitors, and this is very much a compliment to them.

I end by saying that this seaon's Race indeed does take its physical, emotional and mental toll. I was truly so glad to have my parent's letter with me, to last till whichever position we end up in, in the Race, and when I'm back home in HK.

PS - Kudos to the superb hair-stylist extraordinaire... Tania. =)

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We started early in the morning at the Temple and had to go to the Ruins to get the next clue which directed us to go back to the Macau Tower. We were lucky that some kids were touring around on scooters and happened to be hanging around at the temple area. We used their phones to call a taxi to come get us.

Macau Tower

Of course … I knew that the next task would require someone to bungee… what other challenge would there be to do? We arrived second and it was an “hours of operation” in effect so we just stayed there and waited it out. The four teams all bunched together to wait. When the doors opened it was a Roadblock. To even out the Roadblocks Sam decided to do the bungee jump. I really wanted to do it actually but for strategy we needed to even it out. The teams members remaining stayed at the bottom of the tower to wait and we all cheered the other competitors together! When we got the clue it told us to go back to Hong Kong by ferry and then to go to the MASkargo holding centre. Little did we know that Geoff and Tish actually took the helicopter ( which is much faster).

MASkargo

When we got to the cargo holding centre there were MILLIONS of different sized boxes with names that were very similar to all the team members. We had to be very patient but work quickly and efficiently. When watching it on TV… Sam actually missed the box with our names on it… haha!! He’s supposed to be the patient, calm and analytical one too! I found the box on our second sweep! When we opened the box we had to read the letters out loud to the camera before receiving our next clue. My letter was from a family friend in Hong Kong and Sam’s was from his parents. I tried to hold back my emotions but Sam like most of the teams was overcome with emotion. We had been racing for so long and it was great to hear from someone from home. It did hit me though in the taxi ride to the airport and I was a little “spaced”(as seen when exiting the taxi).

Cochin India

We had to travel to Cochin India so when we got to the airport in Hong Kong we we confident that we knew what we were doing. After all it was our home turf and we were 2nd and in front of the other teams. We asked multiple desks and figured out every possible way to get to Cochin.

Now again the next few events made a difference in the final outcome of this leg.

We had found a flight to MUMBAI on AIR INDIA but were unable to purchase tickets because of a some restrictions…..!!!!

We pleaded with the counter and looked for loopholes but we were unsuccessful. ( now … this is the SAME flight that AD &FUZZIE and IDA&TANIA eventually took to Mumbai to transfer to Cochin.. to this day I HAVE NO IDEA how they were able to secure this WHEN both Bernie and Henry and our team were UNABLE TO PERSUADE them…) We shared our info with all the other teams that were there at the airport and told them what our plan were. Ida and Tania weren’t even at the airport at this time, it was just AD FUZZIE and BERNIE HENRY…

instead of waiting for the next bookable FLIGHT…

The next best thing to do was to fly to Singapore from Hong Kong on an earlier flight to catch a flight to Mumbai and then transfer in MUMBAI to the AIR INDIA flight to COCHIN ( the same COCHIN flight that AD &FUZZIE and IDA&TANIA eventually took).

Three teams were all clumped together at the same ticket counters and internet terminals After doing their own research and thinking about the situation Bernie and Henry decided that this was best for their team too since (they had a choice to stick with AD and FUZZIE whom did not buy any tickets to anywhere yet at this point ) there should have been no problem getting to Cochin because we had more than 2 hours to do this when arriving in MUMBAI… but…

We had actually arrived in Mumbai ahead of AD & FUZZIE and IDA & TANIA) but because we had not taken an Air India flight into Mumbai we had to do customs and check out and then check back in… ( or something like that) … For some reason this process took an excess of 2 HOURS… both of our teams were quite discouraged and because this should not have happened. IT SHOULD NEVER TAKE THIS LONG….

Because of this … we had to think on our feet and the next best thing to do was to travel to the domestic terminal and take a flight on a domestic carrier to Cochin… but again… we had to wait and hoped that the hours of operations were going to slow the other teams down.

When arriving to Cochin in the morning both of our teams knew that this would probably be it … either us or them … but we both help each other to the Temple to get the next clue.

Temple

When arriving at the Temple we got our blessing and then our next clue. It required us to travel quite a distance to wash an elephant.

Washing the Elephant

By this time we knew that we were the last two teams because there were only two clues left in the box in front of the temple. This is when you run on adrenaline… haha and you are at the mercy of your transportation. THE KEY… IS NOT TO GET LOST… which in a foreign land is not easy to do…

After about an hour and a half drive we arrived at our elephant washing destination and picked the elephant that was closest to the water. We quickly washed the elephant and made sure to handle it with respect and care…

DETOUR FISH or FILL

After reading the clues I thought that carrying fish would be the better choice. We were wired and I don’t think that concentrating on a delicate task would be good … as well the location of the FISH task seemed to be more well known so FISH it was.

When we got there we saw the GIANT fish that we had to TRANSPORT… MAN THEY WERE HUGE!! This was a RACE dammit so I decided to power through and take 2 at a time… the fish were slippery, frozen, smelly and awkwardly balanced. The first trip was torturous because we had NO idea how far and where the restaurant was. We figured that someone there would know and that they would help us … luckily some dude showed us the way. It was quite a long trek… maybe 15 minutes pf walking with the fish over my shoulders and then

having to walk upstairs to drop it off … grrr. I was ANGRY hahaha… the second trip was much better because we knew how far we had to walk and could pace ourselves.

Bolgatty Palace.

After delivering the 6 fish we finally got the Pit Stop clue. We ran to our taxi who kindly stayed for us and got on our way… all we could do is pray that he knew where to go and that there would be no traffic. It was the longest taxi ride since we had no idea where Henry and Bernie were…maybe we figured that they had done the Fill task but were not sure if they were ahead or if we would be able to beat them in a footrace. In the taxi we both agreed that we had done the best that we could and that we would be content with the results no matter what they were when we arrived at the mat! When we got near to the area… another car had come out of nowhere and plugged up the single lane way… we honked and honked but they wouldn’t leave so we decided to pay the taxi driver and run to the pit-stop he said it was about 5 minutes away … MORE like 15 minutes away and the the actual pit stop was deep into the palace grounds near the water…

I was exhausted from carrying the fish, and running from the taxi , searching for the pit stop while carrying my backpack… we jumped onto the mat and waited for Alan’s response….

You are team number….. FOUR….!!!

We actually had mixed feelings because we knew that we had scraped by and avoided elimination but that meant having to say good-bye to Henry and Bernie who are really cool and funny. The Race definitely became more serious at that point since there were only four teams left.